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Contents
Introduction 5
Common Features of Voxengo Audio Plug-Ins 5
User Interface Layout 6
Title Bar 6
Control Buttons 6
Plug-In Control Interface 6
Hint Line 6
Main Control Buttons 7
Plug-In Instance Name Edit Box 7
Oversampling Selector 7
Bypass Switch 8
A/B Switch Button 8
“A > B” (“B > A”) Button 8
Reset Button 8
Sat Switch 8
Standard Controls 9
Knob 9
Keyboard Value Entry 9
Slider 10
Level Meter 10
Equalizer 10
Scroller 12
Spectrum Mode Editor 12
DC Filter Mode Editor 13
Undo/Redo 15
Preset Manager 16
Main Preset Manager 16
Local Preset Managers 17
Channel Routing Window 18
Layout 18
Introduction
Voxengo audio plug-ins feature a set of standard interface elements that are shared
among all Voxengo plug-ins.
This guide describes functionality of these elements, focusing on the interaction
between the user and the plug-in. This means that this guide does not describe an
actual application of user interface elements (some may control Gain, some may
control Frequency, etc.), but shows the ways of using these elements efficiently from
the user perspective. After reading this guide you will be able to use common
features of all Voxengo audio plug-ins. Any non-standard or special features are
described in the guides for the plug-ins that contain these non-standard or special
features, and are not covered by this guide.
Beside user interface description this guide contains important technical information
about Voxengo plug-ins.
Preset manager
A/B comparison switch
Internal channel routing
Mid/side processing
Undo/redo history
Input channel naming
Channel grouping
Channel group naming
Settings (coloration, scale, hints)
Global settings (control precision, etc.)
Plug-in instance naming
Oversampling
Bypass switch
External side-chain (where applicable)
Contextual hint messages
The graphical interface of every Voxengo plug-in consists of four distinctive parts: the
title bar, the control buttons array, the plug-in control interface and the hint line.
Title Bar
The title bar shows plug-in’s version, plug-in’s title, and also contains the Plug-In
Instance Name text box, the Oversampling selector and the “Bypass” switch.
Control Buttons
This part of the user interface contains several control buttons: the “Presets” button
which opens the preset manager popup window; the quick preset selector button
which is displayed on top of the “Presets” button; three change history-related
buttons; the A/B comparison button; the “A > B” (“B > A”) button; the “Reset”
button; the “Routing” button which opens the channel routing popup window; the
quick routing preset selector which is displayed on top of the “Routing” button; and
the “Settings” button which opens a popup window with the plug-in’s copyright
information and additional settings.
Hint Line
This interface element displays hint messages and may also display other
informational messages. The hint line can be disabled in the “Settings” window.
Every Voxengo plug-in features a set of standard control buttons. They are shown
and described below.
Oversampling Selector
This selector allows you to select a “quality factor” for the plug-in. An oversampling
allows a plug-in to run on a higher internal sample rate thus offering a better overall
sound quality. Almost all types of audio processes benefit from an oversampling:
probably, only gain adjustment, panning and convolution plug-ins have no real use
for it. An oversampling helps plug-ins to create more precise filters with minimized
warping at highest frequencies, to reduce spectral aliasing artifacts in compressors
and saturators, to improve a level detection precision in peak compressors. The
higher the oversampling setting is, the more CPU resources plug-in will require since
a CPU load is increased proportionally to the specified oversampling setting: at the
“8x” oversampling setting plug-in uses exactly 8 times more CPU time (and that is
excluding the time necessary to perform the oversampling itself).
The “Auto” oversampling option is the special option that enables the oversampling
when a project is being bounced (exported) to a wave file; in this mode, when the
plug-in works in the real-time mode the oversampling is set to the “1x” (disabled)
option. It should be noted that not all audio host applications provide the plug-in
with the required plug-in state information: in those cases the “Auto” option works as
the “1x” option all the time (this is the case for some older Mac OS X audio
applications that do not report the off-line bouncing state to the plug-in). The “Auto”
oversampling mode engages the “4x” oversampling mode if the working sample rate
is below 72 kHz; the “2x” mode is engaged if the sample rate is below 144 kHz;
otherwise the oversampling is not engaged at all (for example, if the working sample
rate is equal to 176.4 kHz or 192 kHz the oversampling is not engaged). The
maximum oversampling level used when the “Auto” mode is engaged can be adjusted
in the global settings window. Note that when the plug-in enters the bouncing state,
the “Off-Line Render” notification will be displayed. When this notification is
displayed, the “Auto” oversampling option will be working correctly.
If not specified otherwise, Voxengo plug-ins are using poly-phase IIR low-pass filters
with at least 106 dB stop-band attenuation and 6% transition band width (which
starts at Fs/2) for the oversampling. Please note that these poly-phase filters impose
a phase coloration which sounds slightly different on various working sample rates.
Bypass Switch
The Bypass switch was mainly designed for evaluation of changes the plug-in made.
The Bypass switch will not reduce the plug-in's CPU load when switched on. The
Bypass state is not saved between project sessions, and is not restored to its
previously enabled state when the project is reloaded. This was done so to reduce a
possible frustration due to the Bypass switch left enabled by a mistake.
Reset Button
This is the master reset button. By pressing this button you will reset the plug-in to
its default state. The default state can be chosen in the Preset Manager window.
Sat Switch
Some plug-ins feature a built-in soft-knee output limiter. This switch enables this
limiter. This limiter controls output signal level and produces “console saturation”
effects. Note that neither limiter mode nor soft-clipping threshold is adjustable.
Standard Controls
Knob
The knob control consists of four parts: the name of parameter it controls, the knob
position marker, the center of the knob, and the parameter value readout.
The knob position marker is represented by a rounded light indicator. You may drag
this marker to adjust the value of the parameter using the circular knob adjustment
approach: during dragging, you may move the mouse cursor farther away from the
knob to increase parameter value adjustment precision. You may click on the marker
to set the desired parameter value immediately. This way of adjusting the knob is
available only if the “Radial Knob Mode” global setting was enabled.
The center of the knob has a defined color that corresponds to the parameter or
parameter group the knob controls. You may drag the center of the knob to adjust
the value of the parameter with up and down mouse movements, linearly. While
dragging the center of the knob with the left mouse button, by additionally pressing
the right mouse button you can enable a high precision adjustment mode (which can
otherwise be enabled by holding down the “Shift” key). Dragging precision can be
adjusted in the global settings window.
The parameter value readout displays the current value of the parameter.
When knob is hovered with the mouse cursor, a scale ring is displayed that shows
parameter values at different knob positions (“knob labels”). This ring can be
disabled in the global settings window.
You may additionally use the right mouse button to enable direct knob linking. The
linking between knobs is available when two given knobs are logically linked (for
example, input and output gain knobs, low and high frequency knobs, etc.). You may
hold the “Ctrl” (“Command” on Mac OS X) key before dragging a knob with the right
mouse button to enable inverse knob linking: in this mode every positive increment
of the knob you drag results in a negative increment in the linked knob.
Knob can be also controlled with the mouse wheel. Double-clicking on the knob
resets it to the default state.
Slider
Voxengo plug-ins feature horizontal and vertical sliders. A slider can be dragged with
the left mouse button to perform adjustments. While dragging the slider with the left
mouse button, by additionally pressing the right mouse button you can enable a high
precision adjustment mode (which can otherwise be enabled by holding down the
“Shift” key).
If plug-in presents you an array of sliders (like the “Overtone GEQ” plug-in does) by
holding down the right mouse button on the slider array you will engage the
“drawing” mode that allows you to position sliders in the “free-hand” mode.
Level Meter
Many Voxengo plug-ins feature standard level meters. Each level meter contains
level scale (in decibel) and several level bars that correspond to channels (“A”, “B”,
etc.) of the currently selected channel group. In some cases level meters are shown in
the “minimal” variant with only a single level bar that averages level from all channels
that belong to the currently selected group. Gain reduction meters are displayed
inversely (from top to bottom), and may show positive gain reduction values since
they are showing gain reduction changes relative to the average gain reduction over
2-second time frame.
Some level meters may show a small horizontal white bar which represents peak
level. In output level meters such peak level may turn red which means that the
output level has entered the area above the 0 dBFS signal level and clipping may
occur if the plug-in stays last in the audio host application’s signal chain (if the plug-
in is staying in the intermediate position before other plug-ins clipping may not
necessarily occur). In other level meters red peak level may only be an informative
indication that some predefined threshold level was reached.
Level meter ballistics and peak level hold time can be defined for all instances of the
plug-in in the “Settings” window.
Output level meters usually feature the “Out/In” readout that displays the RMS level
difference between the input and output signals of the plug-in (this level difference
estimation is based on 3-second integration time).
Equalizer
Several Voxengo plug-ins feature an equalizer with the built-in real-time spectrum
analyzer. While the visual appearance of the equalizer is similar among Voxengo
plug-ins, the equalizing algorithm used by any given plug-in may be different from
other plug-ins.
This picture shows the “control surface” with control points which can be dragged
with the left mouse button to adjust the filter's gain and frequency that corresponds
to this control point (you may additionally hold the “Shift” key to enable precise
adjustments). You may select the filter type by pressing the right mouse button on
the control point. By default, the filter type is set to “Off” making the control point
appear grey.
The readouts you see show mouse cursor position within the control surface. The
rightmost readout shows mouse cursor’s position within in the spectrum display
range.
Clicking on a control point with the mouse button will cause the point to be encircled,
and the corresponding filter's frequency response curve will be shown in orange. The
white curve shown in the equalizer window shows the summary frequency response
of all currently enabled filters. When the control point is encircled three entry fields
will be also displayed which you can use to specify filter’s parameters via keyboard
precisely.
While dragging a control point with the left mouse button, you can adjust the filter's
bandwidth by additionally holding the right mouse button (or holding down the “Alt”
key). Alternatively, you can use the mouse wheel to adjust the filter’s bandwidth.
You can hold the “Ctrl” (“Command” on Mac OS X) key while dragging a point to
enable its gain adjustment only. Double-clicking on a control point with the “Ctrl”
(“Command” on Mac OS X) key held returns this point to the 0 dB gain position.
You can also perform editing operations on a group of control points. To select
several control points, drag inside the control surface itself. A box will appear, and all
control points inside this area will become selected. Later you can move a group of
selected points like you are working with a single point. To add control points to the
current selection, you have to hold the “Shift” key before starting to drag inside the
control surface. While holding the “Shift” key, instead of dragging you may also click
on the control point you want to add or remove to/from selection. If several points
were selected the double click on any of the selected points with the “Ctrl”
(“Command” on Mac OS X) key held will reset all selected points to 0 dB. To deselect
any currently selected points, simply click the control surface anywhere.
The “Up/Down Arrow” button allows you to scale the gains of the filters up and
down. The “Inv” button inverts the gains of the filters. The "Reset" button resets
filters to their default state. The “Presets” button opens preset manager for the
equalizer.
Beside control points and frequency response plot the equalizer window also displays
the Fourier spectrum analysis plot. The spectrum analysis and displaying parameters
can be selected via the “Spec” mode selector. The “Spectrum Mode Editor” can be
used to customize these parameters further. You may also click the control surface
with the left mouse button anywhere to reset spectrum analysis display. Note that
Voxengo plug-ins use Hanning windowing function to perform FFT analysis.
A red vertical line that can be displayed if the visible frequency range is wide: this line
shows maximal frequency of the input signal and depends on the input sample rate.
A second red vertical line may be displayed if oversampling is in use – this second
line informs you about the internal frequency range used by the plug-in at this
moment.
Scroller
Some Voxengo plug-ins feature horizontal and vertical scrolling controls with
zooming functionality. Such scrollers are usually attached to the sides of an equalizer
“control surface” discussed above. You may move a scroller only after using its
zooming function.
A pair of horizontal and vertical scrollers is accompanied by a rhomb which can be
used to control position of both scrollers at once in a single X-Y coordinate space.
Scrollers and rhombs can be double-clicked to switch the visual state of the view they
are attached to. You may use this functionality to quickly switch between zoomed
and non-zoomed visual states of a view.
The “Spectrum Disable” switch completely disables spectrum analysis function of the
plug-in.
The “Type” selector specifies which spectrum analysis type should be used. The “RT
Avg” mode engages the real-time spectrum averaging analysis. This type of analysis
produces RMS-averaged spectrum over the specified period specified by the “Avg
Time” parameter. The “Max” type of analysis produces cumulative maximum power
spectrum. The “Avg” type of analysis produces cumulative average power spectrum.
The “RT Max” produces real-time maximum spectrum with spectrum fall-off.
The "Block Size" selector specifies the block size of the FFT (fast Fourier transform)
spectrum analyzer. Higher block sizes provide more resolution in the lower
frequency range, but decrease time coherence (time precision) in the higher
frequency range – the higher frequency information becomes over-averaged. Also, at
higher “Block Size” settings the spectrum is refreshed less frequently. This can be
mostly fixed by increasing the “Overlap” parameter which increases spectrum refresh
frequency. Note that you will need to increase the “Block Size” at higher
oversampling settings since the specified “Block Size” setting is used over the full
spectral bandwidth, and so at higher oversampling settings analyzer’s resolution in
the visible frequency range will be lower for the given “Block Size” setting.
The “Overlap” parameter controls the overlap between the adjacent FFT spectrum
analysis windows. Higher overlap values allow spectrum to be updated more
frequently.
The “Avg Time” parameter specifies averaging (fall-off) time (in seconds) used when
the “RT Avg” or “RT Max” analysis is active. This value specifies time it takes
spectrum level to fall down by 40 dB.
The “Freq Low” and “Freq High” parameters (if they are available in a given plug-in)
specify the visible frequency range (in Hertz) of the spectrum view.
The “Range Low” and “Range High” parameters select accessible spectrum power
range (in decibel).
The "Slope" selector (which is defined in dB per octave) allows you to adjust spectrum
analyzer display’s slope around 1kHz. Skewing the spectrum can be useful because
higher frequencies usually have weaker power in comparison to the lower
frequencies. By choosing an appropriate spectrum slope, you can compensate for this
fact and make the spectrum plot look more convenient and meaningful.
This window allows you to fine-tune the DC filter, and create user presets if required.
DC filter is applied after all processing stages, and is used for removing ultra low-
frequency content introduced by plug-in’s processing modules.
Undo/Redo
Voxengo plug-ins offer a convenient way of managing changes you apply to the plug-
in’s state. When you apply a change to any control, its previous and new values are
stored in the special “change log” which you can then use to “unwind” and “rewind”
any previously made changes. This way you can be sure that no single unwanted or
occasional change you do affects the state of the plug-in in a wrong way.
Undo/redo control consists of three buttons: the “Undo”, the “History” and the
“Redo”:
The “Undo” button allows you to un-do changes made to the plug-in’s state.
The “History” button opens change log (history) that lists all changes made to the
plug-in’s state in the order you have made these changes before. You can re-do and
un-do changes to any level of depth, instantly. Change log keeps track of last 32
changes you have made. Note that a parameter change is logged with group name
placed in parentheses (e.g. “Gain (Ls) change”).
The “Redo” button allows you to re-do changes that were already un-done via the
“History” or “Undo” buttons.
Preset Manager
Presets in the main preset manager are shared among all instances of the same
Voxengo plug-in. All presets within the main preset manager are stored in user
preset banks. Beside user preset banks two special banks exist: the “Session Bank”
and the “Factory ROM” bank. The “Session Bank” lists presets that “mirror”
programs of the VST host audio application (in AudioUnit-compatible applications
this “Session Bank” can be used as a temporary preset palette). When you are
activating a preset in the “Session Bank” you are actually switching a current program
in the VST audio host application: a currently selected program is specified by the
“right allow” symbol (in AudioUnit-compatible applications preset switch in the
“Session Bank” is similar to preset activation). The “Factory ROM” bank lists presets
that were pre-programmed by the plug-in's producer. These presets cannot be
changed, but can be activated. The “Factory ROM” bank is also loaded into the
“Session Bank” every time a new instance of the plug-in is created in the audio host
application.
The main preset manager contains the following control buttons:
The “+”, “–”, “Load” and “Save” buttons allow you to add and remove the bank or
preset, and load and save the bank or preset to and from a disk file. Right-clicking
the “+” button inserts preset into the current list position rather than to the end of the
list (when the left mouse button is used).
Please note that Voxengo plug-ins use a proprietary format to store presets and
preset banks. We suggest that you add a comprehensive name prefix to bank and
preset files so that you would not mix up presets created in different Voxengo plug-
ins. During a save operation, the plug-in will offer you a default name prefix
automatically. Voxengo plug-in preset files possess the “.cpf” file extension while
preset bank files possess the “.cbf” file extension.
The “Set as Default” button allows you to designate a selected preset to become the
default preset. The default preset is loaded every time a new plug-in instance is
created in the audio host application, or the master “Reset” button is pressed. If you
want to restore the original default preset you should press the “Set as Default”
button on the “Default” preset in the “Factory ROM” preset bank.
Double-clicking on a preset name loads the specified preset state. The same does the
“Activate” button. A preset loading cannot be undone.
To change a name of the preset or bank you should at first select the required item
and then after a small delay click the item again. Please do not mix this operation
with a double-click which activates a selected preset.
Local preset managers usually manage presets for a specific module of a specific
Voxengo plug-in. The “Update” button can be used to quickly update selected preset
with the current state.
Presets available in the “Routing Presets” local preset manager are globally accessible
to Voxengo plug-ins of all kinds. These presets greatly minimize routine adjustments
you usually need to perform after creating a new plug-in instance in your audio host
application. Routing presets that are not compatible with the current plug-in are
shown grayed out with the “(n/a)” prefix.
Layout
The Channel Routing window consists of a set of selection buttons assembled in the
following groups: the “Input Routing”, the “Mid-Side Pairs”, the “Group
Assignments”, the “Key Signal Sources” and the “Output Routing”:
In Channel Labels
By pressing this button you can open the channel label assignment popup window.
You can give individual names to input channels in order to simplify a further
channel routing setup understanding. Channel names you provide are also displayed
on the user interface to inform you about channels that are currently being adjusted
by the plug-in’s controls.
Copyright © 2007, 2009 Aleksey Vaneev 19
Voxengo Primary User Guide
You can also import channel labels from the host audio application by pressing the
“Import labels from host” button. However, not all audio host applications provide
distinctive input channel names: in that case entering your own names manually is
the only existing option (Mac OS X AudioUnits do not provide input channel names).
Group Names
This button opens the group name assignment popup window. You may assign
names to channel groups for easiness of channel group selection.
Routing Presets
The “Routing Presets” button opens a local preset list that covers settings present in
the Channel Routing window, including channel labels. These presets are shared
among Voxengo plug-ins of all types: note that due to this fact a particular preset (e.g.
the one that uses mid-side pairs or external side-chain assignment) may not be
applicable to a specific plug-in where the used feature is unavailable (not all plug-ins
possess mid-side processing and external side-chain) – in this case such preset will be
shown grayed out, with the “(n/a)” prefix.
Almost every Voxengo plug-in features the channel group selector which allows you
to select the channel group for which parameters are currently being edited or
monitored.
This selector features a set of buttons that represent channel group names (indices,
by default). Only groups actually assigned to the internal channels in the Channel
Routing window are shown. You may use these buttons to switch between channel
groups.
The “Solo” switch allows you to solo channels that belong to the currently selected
group. This can be useful if you want to focus listening on group’s channels only. The
state of the “Solo” switch is not saved between project sessions, and is not restored to
its previously enabled state when the project is reloaded.
The “Copy to” button allows you to copy parameter settings defined for the current
channel group, to another channel group. The “Reset” button resets parameters
defined for the current group to the default values.
A Voxengo plug-in also presents a list of input channels being routed to a currently
selected channel group. This list is interconnected with the Channel Routing window,
and displays routing settings defined by it. This list contains names of input
channels, comma delimited. Internal channel name (“A”, “B”, “C”, etc.) that accepts
the corresponding input channel is displayed in a superscript style (these internal
channel names are also displayed on the level meters). If more than one input
channel is routed to the same internal channel, the sum is displayed in the form
“(IN1+IN2)”. Additionally, when the internal channel is assigned to a mid/side
group, its input channels are taken into parentheses with the “m” (mid) or “s” (side)
prefix: “s(IN1 & IN2)” which means “side part of the mid/side pair consisting of IN1
and IN2 input channels”.
When a plug-in supports side-chain, any side-chain assignments are displayed with a
special postfix: “:sc()”. For example, “L:sc(scL)” means that the input channel “L” is
affected by the side-chain signal from the input channel “scL”.
Voxengo plug-ins feature a set of settings that affect instances of the same plug-in
only: they do not affect the same settings of other Voxengo plug-in types. This is
convenient since this way you can select different color schemes for different plug-in
types (for example, a Voxengo compressor may be colored in reds while a Voxengo
equalizer may be colored in grays). The same applies to the user interface scale and
the hints display switch: for example, if you have not still mastered a specific Voxengo
plug-in you may leave the hints for this plug-in visible while you may disable the
hints for a Voxengo plug-in you know well.
Color Scheme
The color scheme selector consists of several small preview icons that show possible
color scheme selections. You may press a desired icon to change the color scheme of
all instances of the plug-in. Color scheme switches immediately in all open plug-in
instances, and instances that will be opened later.
Show Hints
This switch allows you to enable or disable hint messages that appear on the bottom
line. The hint state changes immediately in all open plug-in instances, and instances
that will be opened later.
Voxengo plug-ins also feature global settings that are shared among all Voxengo plug-
in types. These settings mainly customize your interaction with various controls:
mouse wheel precision, knob drag precision, etc.
Drag Precision
This setting affects precision of mouse drag operations. This applies to knobs and
readouts.
Tablet Mode
This switch enables “tablet” mode allowing you to control Voxengo audio plug-ins
with a pen tablet. This mode can be also used if you are operating plug-ins via remote
desktop software.
Anti-Denormal Noise
This switch enables insertion of anti-denormalization noise on plug-ins’ inputs. This
noise has RMS of -220 decibel – well below the audible dynamic range. If you are
using Voxengo plug-ins in a host audio application that applies such noise
automatically you may disable this switch to preserve some CPU resource. Without
this anti-denormal noise the filters and oversampling of the plug-in may overload
CPU when silence is processed.
Any Voxengo plug-in is bundled in a separate archive file for every target platform.
These archives contain document files, a license agreement, a change history log and
a plug-in itself in the form of the dynamic link library (DLL) or the component file,
for any given target computer platform. In order to be able to instantiate the plug-in
in the host audio application you should put the DLL (component) file into the
correct file folder that corresponds to the “plug-ins path” specified in the audio
application. It is suggested that you put the DLL (component) file into the “Voxengo”
subfolder within the plug-in folder, for easier searching.
While it is mandatory to read and agree to the supplied license agreement before
using the plug-in, you may for your convenience put the DLL (component) file
separately from its accompanying files, including the license agreement file.
However, as license agreement explicitly mentions, the DLL (component) file cannot
be re-distributed to other persons or companies/entities separately. You may store
the DLL (component) file separately from its accompanying files for your own
archival and storage convenience purposes only.
During its operation, the plug-in also creates settings files where it stores global and
per plug-in settings, including presets. On Windows systems the data files created by
Voxengo audio plug-ins reside in the “\Documents and Settings\<UserName>\
Application Data\Voxengo\Audio Plug-Ins\” folder; on Mac OS X systems the data
files reside in the “/Users/<UserName>/Library/Preferences/Voxengo/Audio Plug-
Ins/” folder. You may safely remove, copy and replace these files, including the
“Voxengo\Audio Plug-Ins\” folder itself. All Voxengo plug-in settings and presets are
available to the specific user of the computer only.
Additional Information
Plug-In Registration
Commercial Voxengo plug-ins should be registered before you can use them in non-
demo mode. Each commercial plug-in in its Settings window contains a special area
where user registration details can be entered. Please use the standard copy&paste
functions to ensure a correct product key entry (you may right-click the product key
entry field to paste the key). User name is not required for entry. When details were
entered correctly, you will see the “Registered to” text in the Settings window: in this
case plug-in is working in a non-demo mode.
Known Issues
These issues are known and may be resolved in the future. In most cases, these
issues do not make Voxengo plug-ins unusable:
1. Plug-in’s preset manager on Mac OS X may appear behind plug-in’s interface
window. This problem can’t be resolved from the plug-in side since it is related to
window hierarchy and how it was setup by the audio host application: almost no Mac
OS X audio host applications honor audio plug-ins to open their own utility windows.
2. Routing preset selector shows presets that make use of mid/side processing or
external side-chaining even if the plug-in does not support these functions. Loading
such presets does not have any negative impact on the plug-in other than causing
confusion about specific function availability in the plug-in.
3. Bias Peak Pro 6 VBox on Mac OS X. First issue happens after opening the
preset/bank load/save dialog from within plug-in’s own preset manager: the plug-in’s
interface stops responding afterwards. Another issue with VBox is more serious and
may lead to an application crash. We believe this is caused by VBox’s own problem
that is caused by VBox calling plug-in’s “Reset” and “Render” functions
simultaneously from different threads.
Q. I may hear that when I switch from the 44.1 kHz working (project)
sample rate to the 96 kHz sample rate the overall plug-in’s sound changes
a bit. Is this normal?
A. This is an expected plug-in behavior since the working sample rate may affect
several internal signal processing aspects, especially digital filter shapes. Thus we are
making an expressed disclaimer about the plug-in’s sonic qualities when working at
different sample rates: the plug-in may produce sonically different results working at
different sample rates. However, these differences are usually minor any should not
be construed as an invalid plug-in operation. It should be also noted that Voxengo
plug-ins are designed to work at any sample rates equal or above 44.1 kHz: lower
sample rates are not supported.
Q. Could you please tell me an easy way to setup mid/side processing over
a stereo input?
A. To setup mid/side processing you will need to do the following: a) open the
“Channel Routing” window; b) assign the mid/side pair “MS1” to channels “A” and
“B”; c) assign channel “A” to group 1, channel “B” to group 2. After this has been
done, the mid channel will be affected by settings defined in the group 1, and the side
channel will be affected by settings defined in the group 2.
able to separately control the processing applied to both. For example, you may
choose to assign the “mid” channel to group 1, and the “side” channel to group 2.
After this has been done, you will be able to set the separate processing parameters
for the “mid” channel by selecting group 1 for editing. The “side” parameters are
accessible by selecting group 2 for editing. Alternatively, you may simply load the
“Mid-Side Stereo” routing preset that will setup the necessary routing for you.
Q. I cannot get the GUI scale function to work. Tried closing and
reopening the GUI but this didn’t have any effect.
A. For the change to take effect when changing the user interface scale, you'll need to
reload your audio application completely.
Q. If I click on the frequency, say “2K” and enter a “3” then it will jump to
“20.00” and never come back.
A. Please make sure you are entering “3K” instead of just “3”, because entering “3”
means “3 Hertz” – not “3 kilo Hertz”.
Q. It seems that the plug-in is taking some CPU resources even if I disable
all of its stages (modules).
A. This is to be expected since even if plug-in processes nothing it still performs some
routine tasks that are considered to be plug-in’s processing overhead. Plug-in may
also take additional CPU resources if its user interface is open since level meters (and
spectrums) have to be updated even in the absence of the signal. Also the
oversampling (quality) setting higher than “1x” alone makes plug-in take more CPU
resources.
Q. Why the output signal metering of the plug-in looks inconsistent with
the levels I see on my host audio application’s level meters?
A. This can be caused by two reasons: 1) If you are using mid-side processing the
output level you see is actually mid or side channel level, it is not a final output level.
This could not be implemented in a different manner because if plug-in showed only
the final output signal level you would not be able to see the signal level of the mid or
side channel separately. 2) If you are using the oversampling setting different from
the “1x”, the signal level you see is the output signal level before the final
downsampling is performed. Since after downsampling new peak overshoots may
appear you may see these peaks on the host’s level meter while not on the plug-in’s
one. However, these overshoots usually have a low magnitude and should not cause
any problems. If in doubt, please use a peak limiter on the master bus.
Q. I can only see one stereo out on the plug-in, that's not right, is it?
A. This means that your audio host application does not support VST 2.3 multi-
channel operation, or you are inserting this plug-in to a mono or stereo track/bus.
Many audio hosts still limit plug-in support to 2 channels input/output only, however
this is not plug-in’s limitation as it was successfully tested in hosts that support multi-
channel operation.
Q. Hello, when using the equalizer I am able to drag the control points
around however there is no effect on the audio.
A. You'll have to right-click the control point and select its type which by default is
“Off” (filtering is disabled).
Q. Will upgrading to the latest plug-in version affect the settings for songs
already in progress where previous version is being used?
A. If you are applying a minor version update (e.g. 2.0 to 2.1, 3.0 to 3.2, etc.) this will
not affect settings, and the update can be considered “transparent”. Major version
upgrades will not interfere with your existing song settings since major version
upgrades come with a different module name and they can be used side-by-side with
a previous major version of the plug-in. However, next major version will not
automatically “inherit” settings and presets you created in the previous plug-in
version as, technically speaking, such next major version should be perceived as a
brand new plug-in. Next major version plug-in may also feature reworked sound
algorithms that may not sound exactly like a previous version at similar settings.
higher project sample rates. The “8x” setting is an extreme setting which is available
when you need an extra fine sound, especially when plug-in settings are specifically
tuned to produce strong harmonic distortion.
Q. Is there anyway to change the default setting, the way the plug-in
loads? I would like to set some specific parameters every time I first
launch the plug-in.
A. Please use the “Set as Default” function in plug-in's own Preset Manager to set a
new default plug-in state.
Q. I’m testing Voxengo plug-in for “bit transparency”, and it seems that
even in the “Bypass” mode most plug-ins produce output with 32-bit
floating point resolution from 16-bit input signal. I was expecting them
to produce original 16-bit signal.
A. This is to be expected since the “Bypass” mode in Voxengo plug-ins should be
considered temporary-use mode. Even when in the “Bypass” mode Voxengo plug-ins
still add noise that prevents “denormal number” problem from happening. Since this
noise is very quiet, it increases technical bit depth of the signal. You may disable the
“Anti-Denormal Noise” option in the global settings to make plug-ins behave “bit-
transparently” in the “Bypass” mode.